Premium links:

Advertising on Social Media: Is it Right for your Business?

While still a relatively new tactic for marketers, social media advertising is clearly growing in popularity as companies test the waters to determine the return on investment. Results have been mixed, and as with any marketing tactic, it’s always wise to consider your own company’s objectives before launching a new campaign of any kind to decide the best way to spend your budget. How will you know if social media advertising is right for your business? Consider asking yourself the following questions:

Who am I trying to reach?

If you have a very specific audience in mind — say, men and women over the age of 25 and living in a particular zip code — Facebook advertising might be an effective way to reach them. The beauty of placing an ad buy on Facebook is the fantastic flexibility the site offers in very clearly defining the people who will see your ads. This flexibility provides advertisers with the ability to easily ensure those who are exposed to your ads are your target customers, thus providing a better chance for click-throughs to your site. Another benefit? In April, Facebook announced they’ve reached 1 billion monthly mobile users, proving the site continues to steadily grow in popularity.

What am I trying to accomplish?

Social media advertising can be worthwhile in a number of situations, but perhaps most of all when you are looking to grow your existing base of followers. In those instances, consider Twitter’s Promoted Accounts or Tweets, which leave the legwork of determining who sees your ads up to the folks at Twitter, who will study your current followers and find people with similar interests who will see your ads in their feed. For those with a more limited budget, this may be appealing as Twitter only charges advertisers for results, when users take action by following you or engaging with the tweet.

How will I measure results?

Every business owner wants to see a return on investment, so setting up a way to track results of your social media ad buy is an essential part of launching a campaign. While it will largely depend on the type of campaign you run, make sure you set up some sort of system for tracking results prior to launch. Including a call to action in your creative, such as direction to visit your website or download some kind of offer, can be a great way to determine the success of a campaign. Consider utilizing Google Analytics to track how much traffic is coming to your website from whichever social media outlet you choose to run your campaign, or creating a special campaign landing page if you are spreading your ad buy across multiple sites.

Social media advertising is a constantly evolving tactic that requires you to be flexible and open minded. Don’t be afraid to try something new, as long it makes sense for you and your business! Tell us what you think about using social media as part of your business by posting a comment and participating in this week's poll.

Survey Results for 04/30/2014 :

Is Your Company Advertising on Social Media?

No, and we have no plans to

60.53%

No, but we are considering it

28.95%

Yes, we do both

5.26%

Yes, we buy Facebook ads

5.26%

Share this article:

Asher Raphael is the chief strategy officer of Power Home Remodeling Group, the nation’s sixth largest home remodeling company with more than 1,200 employees and $170 million in annual sales. Power provides energy-saving and environmentally friendly exterior remodeling solutions to homeowners in Pennsylvania, Connecticut, Delaware, Georgia, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Virginia and Washington, D.C. Raphael oversees the company’s overall strategic direction, which includes evaluating and directing new business opportunities, partner alliances, government relations and national expansion. He is also instrumental in the critical recruitment and development of prospective and existing talent, overseeing the company’s talent acquisition department. An Inc. 5000 company, Power has served more than 87,000 homeowners and is recognized as a home improvement leader by its "Dealer of the Year" award from Window and Door Magazine and the 2011 "Top Workplace" from The Philadelphia Inquirer.

Comments

WindowandDoor.com reserves the right to delete any comments. Read our Comment Guidelines for more information. Report comments you find offensive or believe violate our Content Guidelines.

Post new comment

Your name:

E-mail:

The content of this field is kept private and will not be shown publicly.